Advancing to the Pac-12 title game was worth 10 percent of his base salary, or $230,000 overall. He also made $100,000 for the Sun Devils picking up their ninth victory.

If ASU wins the conference title game, the percent cut would be 20 percent, or $460,000. …

I firmly believe the ASU basketball team’s road victory over UNLV on Tuesday was a game changer. It not only gave a team with a collection of new faces confidence, but the national attention the game received was significant. Exposure like that helps recruiting. …

And yes, I’ll say it because I can’t stop harping about it. It was to ASU’s benefit that the game was on CBS Sports Network and not the Pac-12 Networks like its four other games. DirecTV has something like 20 million subscribers. …

The game showcased the talents of Jahii Carson. Those who didn’t know him do now. It also shed a national spotlight on the evolution of ASU coach Herb Sendek. ESPN basketball analyst Seth Greenberg, who used to coach with Sendek in the ACC, tweeted that Sendek “is showing his versatility as a coach adjusting to his personnel. He has ditched the Princeton offense for spread-ball screens.” …

Greenberg has always had great respect for Sendek, who coached at North Carolina State. When he was the coach at Virginia Tech, he told me, “Put it this way. I’ve been in league meetings with Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski, and Herb was the brightest guy in the room.” …

Arizona’s 2013 signing class of 6-foot-7 forward Stanley Johnson (Santa Ana, Calif.), 6-3 guard Kadeem Allen (Wilmington, N.C.), 5-8 guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright (Los Angeles) and 6-8 forward Craig Victor (New Orleans) is ranked nationally: No. 3 by Scout, No. 4 by 247 Sports and No. 8 by ESPN. It is one of two programs that has been ranked in the Top 10 by ESPN each of the past three seasons (and will probably be four when the rankings come out in the spring)….

It is with great pleasure that I get to use the word “turkeys” and Dan Bickley and Bruce Cooper in the same sentence.

My azentral sports colleagues will be duking it out Tuesday to see who can collect the most birds as part of St. Vincent de Paul’s Turkey Tuesday, which is believed to be the biggest one-day turkey drive in the country.

Cooper will be at Bashas’ at 4940 S. Gilbert Road in Chandler and Bickley at Food City, 845 W. Southern Ave. in Phoenix. Sports celebrities are expect to join them and help encourage people to donate. Turkeys are sent to more than 80 parish-based food pantries, and then volunteers deliver the turkeys, along with Thanksgiving sides, to families in need. …

Speaking of good causes, if you are heading to the Cardinals-Colts game today, swing by your kitchen cabinet or favorite grocery store first.

The Cardinals will be collecting non-perishable food items in boxes outside University of Phoenix Stadium for the St. Mary’s Food Bank, which is very low on items — particularly peanut butter and canned fruits and vegetables — as Thanksgiving approaches.

If it is easier to contribute money, do that. Volunteers will be inside the stadium gates with donation buckets. Think of it this way: A $5 donation will fill an emergency food box for a family in need. …

I enjoy following betting trends simply because they reveal how teams fare against expectations. According to Vegas insider R.J. Bell, the Carolina Panthers have covered six straight, beating the spread by a combined 82 points. And when the Kansas City Chiefs are favored in their division, they are 1-10 against the spread. The Green Bay Packers are 12-2 against the spread in division games. …

Penulitmate word: “I got T.K. in there so we could keep mom and dad happy or whatever. Every time we put him in, he would take the team down the field and score. You didn’t want to believe it, but that is what he did.” — former ASU and current UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, on the low expectations for quarterback Taylor Kelly during his first spring scrimmage

Final word: “There are so many scumbags in the media now, I don’t know who to believe anymore.” — Charles Barkley,to Dan Patrick on the multitude of negative sports stories in the news recently.

My final word: Ouch!

Reach Boivin at paola.boivin@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/PaolaBoivin. Listen to her on “Big Guy on Sports” streaming live on sports360az.com with Brad Cesmat every Monday at 10:30 a.m.

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